(This review may contain spoilers).

This movie was a fairly unusual one for me, as I’d seen virtually no promotional material for it before deciding to watch it at the cinema based purely on the blurb on the website.

I haven’t read the book this movie is based on, but I did still find this really easy to follow. I couldn’t help but feel bad for A, even though they did seem to be contented with what they had.

The biggest problem I had with this movie was the fact I couldn’t really see why A became so enamoured with Rhiannon. As the movie went on, she became a more interesting character, but in her first appearance, she kind of just came across as clingy and not very unique.

I would have liked it more if the movie had focused on A and their journey throughout life. The most interesting parts, I felt, was when they were telling Rhiannon about their life. What it was like growing up different. I also really liked the fact that genderlines were more blurred and it would have been really good to see that utilised a bit more, as there was a lot more that could have been done to make the movie feel more inclusive.

There were some very amusing aspects in this movie, especially when it came to A waking up in more precarious situations. But there was one scene where they woke up in the body of a blind teenager and I thought that could have been shown a lot better.

This movie came across very much like a teenager romance rather than a movie that would explore the difficulties faced by someone who didn’t have any real life they could call their own. There could have been a lot more to make this movie stand out, even with the amount of actors having to portray A and doing a really great job with that.

I was somewhat disappointed in this movie and I felt it could have been a lot better. While it would be interesting to see more of A’s story in the future, I’d prefer a focus on the struggles they face.

(This review may contain spoilers).

When I initially saw this movie advertised, it was the very creepy smile in the trailer that sparked my interest the first time. But having watched this movie, I found it much more entertaining than it first appeared.

On the face of it, the movie is a fairly stereotypical slasher horror. I would say that the strongest part of this movie was the friendship between Markie and Olivia, even though there were times I thought Markie came across as a bit too self-centred, especially considering the very first scene. However, as the movie went on, I was able to understand and empathise with her more. But I did think that her actions towards Lucas weren’t excusable, no matter how much depth her backstory gave her.

I was a bit disappointed that certain things were glossed over, such as when Brad had to tell his father the truth. That conversation would have been really interesting to see and I felt somewhat cheated to miss out on that.

I really liked how the truth or dare came into play at the worst possible moments for the characters and there were some really creepy moments, not least when a whole load of students surrounded Olivia chanting Truth or Dare.

I would have liked to see a bit more depth to Tyson’s character, as he just came across as a mean guy and I was just counting down the seconds for what was going to happen to him.

I did feel a lot of sympathy for Giselle, but even though I could understand Carter’s actions, I really didn’t like him…and that opinion didn’t change much by the end of the movie. I did care about the other characters in the movie, though…and I felt really bad for Penelope, even though she clearly had her own issues.

I was on the edge of my seat for a lot of the movie and I wouldn’t mind watching it again in the future.

(This review may contain spoilers).

Interestingly enough, out of the two horror films I watched in a row, it was this one I thought I’d like the least. But as it turned out, I very much preferred this movie.

I thought it was really good how the movie started out with a family already living in the difficult times of being hunted, as that made the movie a bit more unique in comparison to other disaster movies.

The atmosphere of the movie made it difficult to watch and I thought it was very effective to see the characters have to hold back on making any sound, no matter how difficult that might have been.

I did think the tension and suspense in this movie would have been better if the creatures had stayed ‘hidden’ for longer. The initial appearance was of a being that followed sound almost too fast for the human eye to see. But as soon as they were slowed down, they didn’t seem nearly as scary.

The relationships between the parents and children were probably one of the strongest parts in the movie, especially considering that so much of that lacked them being able to communicate verbally.

One of the main things I liked about this movie was the fact that the characters were real people I could care about. And, yes, they made mistakes; and one of those was quite a big error in judgement, in that Evelyn was pregnant when it seemed like that would be a really dangerous move to make when noise could be deadly. But those mistakes just made them feel human.

This movie did leave me on the edge of my seat throughout and it was really good to see a family struggling to survive. While I probably wouldn’t rush to buy this movie on DVD, it’s one I wouldn’t mind watching again in the future.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I haven’t read the book this movie is based on, but I still really enjoyed watching it and I thought that many of the visual effects were stunning; though I did wonder how big a budget the movie had to include all sorts of pop culture items.

I liked the whole idea of people effectively living in virtual reality and relying so heavily on their technology, as I think that’s the way the world truly could end up going. And it was good to see the hunt for the egg – though apart from Wade and H, I couldn’t really see much of the players interacting with each other.

I did like Art3mis, even though she did come across as a fairly stereotypical tough girl. And the whole Wade developing feelings for her kind of fit with his character, but I still found myself rolling my eyes at some of the very corny dialogue he spouted.

I was kind of disappointed when The Shining was brought into play, as I felt that the major changes really didn’t fit in with what had been shown of Halliday’s character.

I would have liked a bit more detail about the world outisde the Oasis, especially when it came to the loyalty chambers, as it wasn’t clear what they were and how they could be legal when they were first brought up.

There were some really good elements of foreshadowing in this movie and, even though it didn’t really feel like danger when they were in the Oasis, there was enough happening outside that it did feel like the characters’ actions had real consequences.

This was a movie I very much enjoyed watching and it’s one I would watch again in the future. And will probably buy on DVD when it comes out.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I saw trailers for this movie so many times, I actually got really hyped up and excited about it in preparation to watch it. And I did really enjoy the movie. It was a really interesting concept and it was also good to see that each of the dogs had their own personality.

I did question why there were translators throughout the movie, as it took place primarily in Japan and showed very little of the outside world, apart from the American exchange student – but there didn’t seem to be anyone else apart from her would have needed translating, especially in the meeting at the beginning, which had a very secret feel.

I did like seeing the colonies formed by the dogs on Trash Island, but this was definitely not a child-friendly movie, as there was a lot of dark subject matter shown.

One of my favourite parts of this movie was the friendship that formed between Chief and Atari, although I did feel that Chief changed his tone rather quickly – and although he warned that he bit, there was nothing to indicate he’d carry out that threat, whether unconsciously or not.

I also felt that this movie wasn’t long enough to need to be separated into parts or chapters. And though it was good to see the legend of the boy samurai at the start of the movie, I was expecting it to be more utilised through the course of the movie.

I did like the idea of Oracle, the dog who could understand the television, but I was left somewhat confused by the way the languages worked, as by the end of the movie, it seemed like Atari could actually understand the dogs.

I enjoyed the small elements of humour in this movie and I did find it really engaging to watch. While I wouldn’t rush out to buy it on DVD, it’s a movie I wouldn’t mind watching again in the future.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I did watch the prequel to this movie, but I didn’t really remember much about it, other than there being giant robots that that served as flight suits.

I felt that the strongest part of this movie was the characters, especially the interactions between Jake and Amara and Jake and Nate. I did, however, think that the obligatory love triangle was boring. Jules really wasn’t developed enough for me to care about her on her own, let alone who was going to get into her pants.

I did really like Amara…but, to be honest, I liked most of the recruits. It was good to see some of the problems with linking when they were inside the robots, but I felt that Amara’s hangups disappeared too quickly.

It wasn’t very clear exactly why the humans believed with such certainty that the aliens would return. They were right, of course, but I could imagine them being seen as just paranoid up until that point.

It was nice to see the action scenes, but I felt there were too many ‘redshirts’ – most of the people who died were nameless characters I’d formed no emotional connection to, with a couple of exceptions.

I would have found this movie to be more engaging if more time had been spent developing the characters and their relationships – NOT romance – with each other. A lack of emotional connection to all but the main characters meant I was just watching a lot of random people get hurt towards the end. And I’d forgotten who some of those involved in the major battle at the end were.

The fight scenes were engaging and I really did enjoy watching the ‘giant robots’ battling it out. I just wish the movie had handled things a bit better in regards to the secondary characters.

(This review may contain spoilers).

I have some quite mixed feelings about this movie, I have to say. I did feel that one of the things this movie did really well, though, was the fact that the main character, Sawyer, got herself committed to the psychiatric hospital because she didn’t actually read what she was signing.

I thought the use of the camera angles was really powerful, as they allowed the movie to be really harrowing to watch.

I would have liked it better if this movie had spent a bit more time setting up Sawyer as an unreliable main character. Eventually, it just seemed to become a fairly stereotypical movie about a young woman trying to survive. I felt several tricks were missed in her interactions with the other patients.

I also felt there were intriguing secondary storylines that were just allowed to fall by the wayside. Many of the supporting characters weren’t really developed enough to allow me to care about them. In fact, all they felt like were supporters in Sawyer’s story.

This movie did build slowly and I did like that aspect, along with not knowing if what Sawyer was experiencing was real or all in her head.

There were some intense scenes, but also many that were gross and disturbing. For most of the movie, I found suspending my disbelief about much of the storyline hard to do. After all, it really didn’t seem to me like what the hospital was doing would last in the long term. There were a lot of holes that became apparent the closer I looked.

All in all, I felt this movie was one that didn’t really live up to its potential. There was quite a bit that was illogical and didn’t make sense even within the confines of that world.

To be honest, I don’t plan to watch this movie again any time soon. Or to buy it on DVD.